Eight Boots Abroad

After our adventurous two week family “snorkelfest” through the islands of West Papua in Indonesia, we headed back north to Vietnam. Our time spent here was coordinated with the Lunar Lantern Festival in Hội An (January 13th) and the Vietnamese New Year (Tết, the week-long period around January 29th)! We had originally considered adding the famous Ha Long Bay near Hanoi to our itinerary, but after weeks spent sailing among the remote karst islands of Indonesia, we decided to skip Ha Long Bay and spend more time doing relatively slower travel through the areas around Hội An/DaNang/Huế and Ninh Binh/Trang An. Along the way we were also able to meet up with more traveling families, and our kids got to do movie nights and game days with other kids their ages!

Our Vietnam adventure began with a week and a half in the area around Hội An. After living on the boat for 2 weeks in Indonesia (where both temperatures and humidity levels consistently hung around 90 to 95), we were super-excited to be in Vietnam with “winter temperatures” in the 60’s. We happily donned our hoodies and headed out to explore!

The Old Town of Hội An is filled with history, dating back to the 15th century when it was an important trading port between China, Japan, India, and Europe. For crafty people like me, wandering the town of Hội An is a pure delight! We were immersed in busy pedestrian streets and quaint alleys filled with beautiful textiles, handmade custom-tailored clothing, colorful lanterns, intricate jewelry, and pottery. I absolutely loved being fully surrounded by artisans and their craft. For the past few months I have been missing the ability to create with my hands – oddly enough, my sewing machine and fabric stash didn’t make the cut when we were packing. Luckily, during our time in Hội An we were able to get some creative juices flowing again. 

We took a lantern-making class as a family, starting with raw bamboo to create the internal frame and then choosing, cutting, and carefully applying the colorful silk fabric cover. Some of us are more naturally crafty with our hands than others, but all four of our lanterns turned out beautiful and unique.

We also celebrated my birthday while in Hội An! For my gift Howie and the kids surprised me with a crafty afternoon of jewelry making. I created a lovely silver ring to replace the silicone wedding band I had been wearing since we left Colorado. The process of choosing a raw piece of silver, shaping it into a ring, sizing, and polishing was all fascinating. What a sweet and special gift to remember this birthday and our year adventuring together!

While in Hội An our main mode of transport was by bicycle. Our accommodation was located on the eastern edge of Hội An and our daily adventures into town always started with a family bike ride on the path along the Thu Bồn River. So many cute cafes, unique shops, and quaint homestays lined the idyllic route into central Hội An. Riding this passage “home” most evenings was my favorite way to end our day, as hundreds of colorful lanterns lit our way.

We also took several day trips from Hội An, one to the nearby ancient citadel of Huế and another trip to the remains of the My Son Sanctuary temple complex. We loved exploring the ancient architecture in this pair of incredible UNESCO world heritage areas!

After a week and half in Hội An we continued our journey north to the mountainous area of Ninh Binh. We traveled 13 hours by train on a portion of the nearly 2,000km long rail line that runs the entire length of Vietnam – from Hanoi in the north to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in the south. Crowned by Lonely Planet as “the most incredible train journey in the world,” we thought it would be fun to give it a go. Turns out, this is not one of the fancy, smooth, modern high-speed rails you come across in places like Japan, China, or Europe, but rather tracks from a nearly 100 year old route that was begun in the 1880s and completed in 1936. Many of the passenger carriages are at least 60 years old – I’m convinced the very basic bunk bed carriage we were transported in was one of the very first train bunk carriages to exist in Vietnam. Our 13 hour ride was beautiful, but also extremely bumpy and jolting – by the time we arrived in Ninh Binh we were all much more exhausted than the moment we boarded. On arrival in Ninh Binh we transferred to our accommodation in the rural northern Vietnam countryside and took some amazing naps. 

For the next week and a half, we stayed in a homestay in the mountainous area near Ninh Binh. Our hosts were a lovely Vietnamese family with three children, a cat (who had a litter of kittens while we were there!), and the tiniest dog known to all of humankind. They prepared breakfast for us each morning and then gave advice for the day’s adventures. They also provided us with bicycles, and many days were spent exploring the gravel backroads through the countryside. These daily family bicycle journeys were a highlight for me… although riding behind our kiddos as they tried to keep control of their “one size fits all” bikes on gravel roads with minimal maintenance was definitely nerve-wracking at times. 

The area of Ninh Binh is breathtakingly beautiful, covered in steep limestone peaks, rivers, caves, and rice fields. It’s also steeped in history as the first capital of the Kingdom of Dai Co Viet during the 10th century (the precursor of today’s Vietnam). Temples abound, many with Chinese influence due to the region’s rule by China for a Millenia (from 111 BC to 939 AD). We hiked to the top of limestone peak lookouts above Hoa Lu and Hang Múa, and explored the Bái Đính Pagoda complex (the largest Buddhist temple complex in Vietnam). 

We also spent an afternoon on a bamboo boat, guided by a local Vietnamese woman, exploring the caves and temples of Trang An. We helped paddle as the boat weaved through an extensive network of karst caves (some up to half a kilometer in length) which connected isolated temples on the banks of the Sao Khe river. 

Our kiddos loved the evening we spent in the town of Ninh Binh, strolling along the busy riverwalk lit by hundreds of colorful lanterns. The water’s edge, lined with colorful shops and restaurants, is a lively gathering place for the residents of Ninh Binh. The local children enjoyed practicing their English skills with our kids… amusingly, this quickly escalated to these local adolescents inviting our family to visit their homes for the evening.

It was incredibly special for our family to be living in a homestay with a local family during Têt (Vietnamese/Lunar New Year). They enthusiastically included us in their traditions – we made banh chung/tet (banana leaf, sticky rice, and pork “cakes”), drank homemade wine, spent one night singing very loud and ridiculous karaoke, and enjoyed the amateur New Year’s pyrotechnics display set off from their roof. 

After thoroughly exploring every temple, cave, and remote bike path through Ninh Binh/Hua Lu/Trang An, we continued further north to the capital city of Hanoi. In general, we’re still not really big city people, but we ended up really enjoying our time here! We stayed in the Old Quarter, and had a balcony overlooking the colorful, busy streets below. I loved the cafe culture and made sure to consume my daily allotment of Vietnamese egg coffee (sounds weird… but soooo good!).

During our stay in Hanoi we also visited the historical Temple of Literature, a Confucian temple complex celebrating Vietnam’s academic heritage (teachers and students). The gardens surrounding the temple complex were beautiful and impeccably kept. There were many local families visiting the temple complex for the Lunar New Year, as visiting this temple also brings good luck to the children/students during their academic pursuits for the coming year.  

Our most amusing encounter during our stay in Hanoi was probably the moment I required a small bit of medical attention. The week prior to our stay in Hanoi I suddenly lost my hearing in my right ear. We thought this was likely due to all of the deep snorkeling in Indonesia as well as some cold water lap swimming I had been doing in some pools in Vietnam. Regardless, after a week my hearing still wasn’t returning the way I expected it to. So we set off to find an ENT physician to take a look and make sure I hadn’t ruptured an ear drum… or brought some weird Indonesian sealife with me in my ear canal. Because it was still Têt holidays, we discovered nearly every outpatient physician office in Hanoi was closed. But, with the assistance of Google Maps I found a random ENT physician with a WhatsApp number. I sent a quick message, not really expecting much of a response. To my surprise, the physician responded within minutes, inviting us to his office to have my ears examined. Howie and I tracked down a ride and 20 minutes later we found ourselves in a residential area of Hanoi. Turns out his home was also his medical office. He graciously invited us into his home and took a thorough look in my ears (and nose, and throat) with a digital otoscope and determined there was nothing alarming going on. He prescribed some oral steroids to help with presumed eustachian tube dysfunction and we were on our way… or so we thought. Next thing we knew, his wife popped out from behind the door, in her hands an entire tea ceremony! How crazy of us to think we would just leave after a physician had invited us into his home to have my ears examined. It was Têt after all, of course a tea ceremony prepared by his wife would follow! So there we sat, drinking tea, nibbling on biscuits and fruit while this sweet woman told us stories and shared pictures of her travels and family. The whole experience was absolutely fantastic and utterly surreal. I mean, I work in healthcare in the US… never in a million-billion years could I dream up a situation where a physician responds to a WhatsApp message from a foreign traveler, invites them into his home during a holiday, thoroughly examines them, and then has his sweet wife prepare a tea ceremony to end the visit! What an incredible moment! And for those who are wondering, the total bill was $24 and no silly health insurance company had to be involved. 

After three weeks exploring central and northern Vietnam we decided to leave Asia for a bit – New Zealand, here we come!

Vietnam – Howie’s Addendum

After our time exploring the remote islands and reefs of Raja Ampat, our return to southeast Asia felt quite comfortable. While I would happily spend every day snorkeling through exotic reefs and building sandcastles with the kiddos on deserted tropical island beaches, the cool winter temperatures in Vietnam were a welcome relief from Indonesia’s sweltering heat. We were also happy to discover that many accommodations in Vietnam offer a degree of luxury at an affordable price point – goodbye (for now) tents, campgrounds, and outdoor shared bathroom facilities, hello actual beds!

We slowed down our pace of travel significantly through Vietnam, spending over a week each in Hoi An Ninh Binh, before arriving for five days in Hanoi. It was nice not needing to repack our bags quite as often, though I have grown accustomed to faster travel through much of this year. While I like spending enough time in a place to really get a feel for the location, at times in Vietnam I got a bit restless and felt ready to keep moving along.

One thing I found particularly unusual about Vietnam was the collision between the ancient and modern worlds. In many locations we have visited around the world, there has often been an effort to maintain a delineation between the past and present. Surely, restoration and maintenance work on ancient architectural masterpieces across the world has always been performed, using a combination of traditional and modern methods. But in most places we have visited, the past and present felt like two distinct and identifiable times. However, in Vietnam, there seems to be an entire industry devoted to creating modern historic structures. When we would come across pagodas, temples, stone staircases winding through limestone peaks and caves, castle walls, and tombs, it was often impossible to determine if the structure had been built five years ago, fifty years ago, or five hundred years ago without doing some internet research. Modern structures are built essentially replicating ancient designs, often with the express purpose of creating new tourist attractions. Nowhere was this more evident than in the Bai Dinh temple outside of Ninh Binh. At the Bai Dinh site, there is a small, original Buddhist temple constructed in the year 1136. This small ancient temple, however, is now part of the now enormous Bai Dinh temple complex, constructed in 2010, which includes multiple enormous temple structures, as well as the tallest pagoda in all of Vietnam, spread out across 1700+ acres. All of these buildings, while traditional in appearance, serve as the center of a vast tourism enterprise, with stadium-sized parking lots funnelling visitors onto hundreds of small electric buses, which drop the tourists off to view thousands of ancient-looking statues in dozens of ancient-looking temples, all of which is about a decade old. Further blurring the lines between past and present, offerings left on the altars of these Buddhist temples consist of not only incense, flowers, and the traditional meal of bahn tet (rice and bean meal wrapped in banana leaves), but also hundreds of plastic-wrapped packages and tins of biscuits, sweets, and junk foods. This juxtaposition served to remind us that what may from our perspective be considered as an ancient religion is very much a part of the modern world.

On to the highlights!

Exploring the crowded streets of Hoi An amidst the vibrantly colored lanterns was a fantastic experience. The lantern making class was super fun, although my ineptitude at the task served to remind me yet again that my wife is much craftier than I could ever hope to be.

Exploring the Hindu temple ruins of My Son was enjoyable, though the site is not nearly as extensive as other archaeological wonders in the region like Angkor Wat. The site was also sadly heavily damaged by bombing during the Vietnam War, with numerous large craters dotting the landscape.

The gardens throughout the imperial city in Hue were spectacular. In particular, the bonsai (hòn non bộ in Vietnamese) were stunning, and worth the long trip it took to visit from Hoi An.

Bicycling through Ninh Binh gave us a pleasant sense of freedom of movement – we have been heavily dependent on public transportation and ride services throughout much of our year, so it was fun to control our own destiny for a while while we pedaled between the limestone towers. Karst landscapes are one of my favorite geological features – and happily this year will take us through many such sites in Laos, Vietnam, and southern China. 

As previously mentioned, we are generally not big city people. That being said, Hanoi was a really neat place to explore! The water puppet show in Hanoi was a fun cultural experience – in particular, the hauntingly beautiful music performed by a live orchestra on traditional instruments was amazing. Also, our visit to Hanoi train street was delightfully chaotic. We were lucky to enjoy a nice cafe meal alongside the tracks, as the cafes seem to be frequently shut down by the authorities. 

We encountered so many helpful, kind people! We enjoyed how so many people greeted us with a friendly “hello” wherever we went.

And, the challenges:

We’ve been to a lot of touristy areas during our year of travels, and seen a lot of different sales pitches from local vendors. In Vietnam, however, we came across multiple business owners who took the crown for the most humorously direct approach: loudly exclaiming “BUY SOMETHING!!!” at each person passing by their stall. 

Disappointingly, I felt the cuisine underperformed my very high expectations. I generally love Vietnamese cuisine, and came into this segment of our trip excited to try authentic versions of our favorite dishes. I unfortunately discovered that I perfer Vietnamese food from back home over anything I found in Vietnam itself! It was hard to beat the price-performance Bánh mì (literally a dollar a sandwich), but other dishes felt like a bit of a letdown. Feel free to tell me that I am wrong – I’d love to find some tasty spots if we return in the future!

Not surprisingly, at points along our adventure this year we’ve all felt some homesickness. I felt this particularly during our time in Vietnam. It may be that slowing down our speed gave me time to think about missing friends back home. I certainly am not ready for this year of adventures to be finished, but I am very ready to spend time with our friends and family we are missing from back home. 

And finally, we have spent a great deal of time this year constantly on alert to make sure neither of our children are getting run over by a moped, plunging over a cliff, eating something that will make them sick, or otherwise accidentally injuring themselves in spectacular fashion. Unfortunately, we neglected to tell our daughter not to fall off of a small bridge in a cave headfirst into a pool of stagnant water. Next time we will correct this oversight. Happily, nothing but MB’s dignity was injured.